Cell lysis is the destruction, or disruption, of a cell's membrane or wall, which breaks open the cell and exposes its contents. Many techniques are available for the disruption of cells, including physical, chemical (e.g., detergent-based methods, chaotropic salts) and biochemical (e.g., enzymes such as lysozyme). Mechanical lysis, such as vortexing and bead-beating, is one form of physical lysis. Sonication is another form of physical lysis, which uses pulsed, high frequency sound waves to agitate and lyse cells, bacteria, spores, and finely diced tissue. These approaches, however, are not readily compatible with an integrated low-cost cell lysis/nucleic acid analysis system. Detergent-based methods are often easier to use with more efficient protocols than physical methods. Nonetheless, the presence of detergent may interfere with downstream reactions in an integrated system and can give variable lysis efficiencies for hardier bacteria and spores and require long incubation steps and or heat treatment. Therefore, there still exists a need for cell lysis methods that are cost-effective, efficient and compatible with an integrated cell lysis/analysis system.